Mole Moles don’t actually eat plants. They’re after grubs and earthworms. But the tunnels they dig and molehills they leave behind can make your yard look unsightly. Voles, on the other hand, don’t leave much evidence on the surfac[...]

What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~ Charles Dudley Warner, author. No matter your choice of favorite plant – vegetables… flowers… trees… shrubs – you’ll find some version of it[...]

“Soil is a resource, a living, breathing entity that, if treated properly, will maintain itself. It’s our lifeline for survival.” ~ Marjorie Harris, In the Garden, 1995 Wet soil compacts very easily and working garden soil when it [...]

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi When soil microbes break down organic matter they produce mucilage, which is just a nice word for slime. It’s that byproduct that helps [...]

“Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket!” ~ Andrew Carnegie You might not see a brightly colored Easter egg as a dangerous object, but real eggs used on Easter egg hunts could harbor salmonella – a bacteria that can make yo[...]

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. ~ writer Lewis Grizzard (Photo by Harald Hoyer) Missouri is a transition state as far as weather is concerned. Part of the state is northern, another part is southern and there[...]

Broccoli, a cole crop and cool season vegetable (Photo by Robert Wetzlmayr) Cool season vegetables, as their name implies, really like cool temperatures and cool soil. If you don’t plant these crops early enough there will not be enough time b[...]

True shamrock – Yellow Flower Clover – Trifolium dubium (Photo by Krzysztof Ziarnek) St. Patrick made the shamrock famous by, allegedly, using it to illustrate the Holy Trinity. Shamrocks are a lucky addition to an Irish Bride’s b[...]

Lilium ‘Cappuccino’ or Tango Lily – Asiatic hybrid (Photo by Bill Murray) There was a time when lilies were rare and difficult to grow. Thanks to Jan de Graaff there are many dependable lily hybrids available today. The Holland nat[...]

Tax deadline day for most of the U.S. is April 16th. For Missouri victims of severe storms in December and January their deadline is a little later. That deadline extension also includes business tax deadlines such as February 1 and May 2 deadlines for qu